#do deck

Try externalizing your working memory! (Working memory is kind of like a desktop in your brain... you can be aware of all the stuff spread out on the desk, but some people have very small desks to work on, and are constantly bumping the desk and knocking stuff into the dusty corners behind it.)

My new card holders just came in, and I'm in the process of redoing my Do Deck (cards that help me keep track of things, like my daily routine, my day-of-the-week routines, spring cleaning tasks, goals I want to make progress on, etc.).

The Do Deck is a customizable, portable, modular, infinitely rearrangeable, external memory system that doesn't need to be plugged in, charged, connected to the internet, or otherwise require anything more than cardstock cut to an appropriate size and writing implements. My first Do Deck was made from index cards that I had cut in half. Then I discovered blank playing-card-sized cards.

I use ink to color-code the more permanent categories of card (daily, day-of-week, end-of-month, middle-of-month, spring cleaning). I use pencil to make temporary cards that can be erased when completed, and to make temporary notes on the permanent cards.

Instead of trying to remember each and every thing that Past Me wanted to get done, I only have to remember to check and update my Do Deck hands. It's become part of my day in the mornings, looking at the day's hand, discarding any cards I don't feel like doing that day, arranging the remaining cards into an approximate order of events, etc.

This is what I'm talking about.

A low-tech, modular, customizable information storage and retrieval system, with multiple ways to be used at any given time.

This is one of the ways I've learned to externalize my working memory. (Working memory is like a desk in your brain. You're aware of whatever's spread out on the desk, but some people have very small desks, and lots of dusty corners to accidentally knock things off into.)

There's a thing I need to put effort and/or focus into, but not at this exact moment? Write it down on a card and tuck in into the right spot, for a future hand.

There's a thing I need to do every week? Make a card for it, color-code it to match the rest of the once-a-week cards, pencil in a preferred day of the week in the lower corner, and tuck it into the spot for that day's base hand.

There are things I want to work on soonish? Make a display of the cards for them and put it in the area where I put my Do Deck hand together each morning.

There's a thing I need to do, and I have the time and energy to do it today? Grab the card for it and put it into my hand for the day.

Instead of having to remember umpteen things across days and weeks and months, I only have to remember to check and update my Do Deck throughout each day.

This is one of the major ways that I start things, remember to do things, follow through with things, take care of daily things, take care of recurring things, take care of one-time things, and basically organize my days. Instead of having to remember All The Things, I only need to remember to update and check the Do Deck regularly.